Pedley Packinghouse

William Pedley, working on behalf of the San Jacinto Land Company, planted hundreds of acres of citrus trees in what we now call the Pedley area. Of course all that fruit needed a way to get to market. Conveniently there was a train route right through Pedley so Mr. Pedley built a packinghouse near the train tracks. This packing house was built with a technique that was very innovative for its time. Many of the walls were made by creating molds on the ground and pouring cement into them. After the cement cured the walls were tilted up into place. This "tilt up" method of construction is very now, but Pedley's packinghouse is thought to be one of the first times that method was used.    

Watch Out For The Naked Guy!

Once again I am stuck by what turns up in old newspapers! The May 12, 1924 Los Angeles Times had a small article about Frank O. Crogor. Pedley residents reported him to the Sheriff's office because he was strolling down the road wearing, well, what the newspaper called "Nature's Own Garb." Isn't that a great way of saying the man was buck naked? When two sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene, Crogor was redressed in everything but his shoes. The sixty-three year old man admitted he had been strolling in the buff, but said is was necessary because it helped his heart disease! Crogor had been camping out in the Pedley area for about two weeks. The deputies took him to jail for fear he would disrobe once again. Now, any of you out there with heart disease, I don't want you to get any ideas from Mr. Crogor!

1908 Train Wreck in Pedley

The big happening in February 1908 was a train wreck near the Pedley train station. The Pedley train station was located where the Metro Link station is located today. The Los Angeles limited was going approximately 40 miles an hour when it left the tracks at about 9:15 P.M. The accident occurred 200 yards east of the Pedley station. It looked like the cause of the wreck was a broken wheel flange. This caused the engine and tender and all of the cars except the mail car and observation card to leave the tracks and go pounding over the ties. None of the cars overturned but the dining car was tilted at a 45-degree angle. Inside that car was the eight-man car crew. We can assume they were bounced around a bit. 

The eighty passengers on the train were thrown around and one woman, Mrs. Murray of Los Angeles, broke her collarbone. A wrecking train was sent out from Los Angeles and arrived at 3 AM. They immediately began laying a “shoofly” track around the wreck. Overland Train No.2 was trapped at Ontario and was sent back to LA and then over the Santa Fe tracks via San Bernardino so it could get on to its destination. The emergency tract was competed at 6:30 AM and the local and overland trains could get through at their scheduled times